The high cost or shortage of fuel triggered by the ongoing Middle East war is deterring people from driving to work or elsewhere. It has also fueled a Cuban man’s ingenuity by improvising an alternative power source for his car.

Juan Carlos Pino, a 56-year-old mechanic, posted on Facebook on 7 March a video of his modified 1980 Polish-built Fiat running on gas produced from burning charcoal, yahoo!news reported, citing local media CiberCuba.

Pino built the car in his workshop in Aguacate, about 45 miles east of Cuba’s capital, Havana. Mounted on the car’s rear is a converted propane tank where ordinary charcoal is burned to produce gas that powers an internal combustion engine.

The gasification technology is not new; it was widely used during World War II.

Meanwhile, a video showing a student from General Santos City going to school in an unusual way has also gone viral on social media.

Janjeric Arcibal, a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture student, is shown in the viral video riding a horse on a paved road, GMA Regional TV One Mindanao reports.

Arcibal rode the horse named Arthur from his school to go to the other campus in Barangay Labao, according to the GMA TV news.

According to the student, his school wanted him to ride the horse to promote a traditional mode of transportation as a temporary solution to the increasing cost of fuel.

Pump prices of diesel and gasoline may hit more than P100 per liter in Metro Manila and other parts of the country this week, which is too prohibitive for local drivers of traditional jeepneys and other motorists.

Arthur was entrusted to Arcibal because he knows how to care for and handle a horse, the student told GMA TV.